Tom Fleischman resigns from Oscars academy over telecast overhaul

Tom Fleischman has reportedly resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over a plan to exclude eight categories from the Oscars telecast.

Last month, Academy officials revealed the documentary short, animated short, live-action short, film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, and sound categories would be excluded from the main ceremony on 27 March.

However, the winners of the categories will be announced at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles an hour before the live telecast, and be recorded and clipped for highlights.

In light of the news, editors at The Hollywood Reporter have claimed Oscar-winning sound engineer Fleischman has quit his role within the film organisation.

Fleischman won an Oscar for Scorsese's Hugo and was nominated for Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs, Warren Beatty's Reds, as well as Scorsese's The Aviator and Gangs of New York.

Additionally, the 70-year-old sound engineer serves on the board of directors of the Cinema Audio Society, with officials at that organisation also criticising the decision.

"The decision of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate some categories differently than others ultimately communicates a sobering insensitivity to the affected creative arts and is potentially divisive to the community," they commented in a statement last week. "It is our sincere desire that the Academy will reverse its decision and choose not to diminish the prestige of its esteemed honour to the filmmaking community."